ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the interconnection of religion and space as they are multifariously expressed within the Mayan sacred landscape. The landscape, along with its flora and fauna, was carried and nurtured by the spiritual, subterranean stream of life. Pilgrim mobility made the social borders permeable, and a new entwining of spiritual forces found its place. The temples of the Mayan cities were created in a close relation to the holy mountains, which they represented symbolically and architecturally. A built space emerges through the steps, stairs, paths, and trails that design the movement of people through architecture and ritual. In the sacred geography, the helpers of the rain god and other gods also had a special function as guardians of the sacred sites. The interplay of heaviness and gentle openness in a steadily varying pattern creates a special atmosphere, which is best experienced by slowly wandering around the city.
